Gluing acrylic

How to glue acrylic and tips on gluing acrylic fish tanks. Always practice before gluing your tank together, edges must be smooth with no gaps. If you get leaks you can run an extra corner piece thats the thickness of your material. So with 1/4" acrylic sheet you will take 1/4" square acrylic rod and cut it to length and then glue it in place in the edge. This piece can be cut from your material or square rods can be bought from most plastic supply complanies.

Acrylic fish tank repair - to repair an acrylic aquarium you will need the same cement as building. You can use the square rod method as described above or cut a new piece to fit the corner that needs repair. Cut a square rod the thickness of your acrylic tank (approximately). Extend the piece beyond the crack/split acrylic at least an inch on each side of the leak. Press the piece in and cement it in place. Other than looks the extra piece should fix the leak.

VIDEO'S and HELP with acrylic sheets and gluing acrylic.

It's recommended to glue together as much practice pieces as you can to give you a good idea about how smooth the edge of you acrylic sheet needs to be for the water thin cement to make a water-tight seal. I would start with some small 4" pieces, then try to make a water tight box before using $100 worth of acrylic and wasting it. If you dont glue it right the whole project is out the window. Make sure edges are smooth with fine sandpaper on a flat surface (DO NOT round the edges while sanding!!) You need a router bit and scrape the edges smooth and perfectly flat on any "cut" edge that will need to be cemented.

Different types of tape is useful while cementing the pieces together.

Once all pieces are cut to size you need to cut the protective covering about 1" in from the edge, from any section that needs to be cemented. Do a test fit with some tape and mark which edges where the film need removal.

To prevent "running" of the cement leave on most of the covering until the tank is completed. The #4 cement will run and make small lines when it dries if you miss a spot or get it where you dont want it. It wont ruin the tank just leave small groove from the cement "dripping". These can be buffed out later with acrylic buffing kits if you get a bad spot.

Once you have peeled the small amounts of covering and have it fitted together perfectly you can pick a "Starting Position". Make sure the edge's are smooth and there are NO gaps because #4 cement doesn't expand. It will only bond together if the piece's are in contact or very close, thats why its good to have electrical tape so that there is consistant pressure where the acrylic is being joined.

Make sure you have a flashlight handy so you can see the "BEAD" of wet cement as you apply it to the edge's. Pay close attention to each line as you move along and apply cement into the corners, apply more tape as neccessary and peel tape back to see that it is filling in if neccessary.